June 2020 Babies - newborn snuggles, recovery, milk and night feeds!

[LillianFullStop]

First post natal thread for June 2020 babies! Looking forward to seeing our birth club thread members here soon!

[quote umabb]@SRS1311 that sounds sensible. I express at each of his feeds. If bf I try to drain my boobs with express machine and if bottle fed then for sure will have to express. Very tiring time. [/quote]
In the first week I was desperate to breast feed all the time, there was lots of tears! I take my hat off to anyone breast feeding full time and doing it every 1 - 2 hrs. I felt like my mental health was suffering, and especially as we were up all night with him - it's just exhausting. You have to find something that suits you, but dont feel bad or put pressure on yourself. Even if you've done it for a couple of weeks, baby will have lots of health benefits and its important for you to be happy and healthy, not anxious and run down.

@BabyBird20 if he senses that you are anxious he won't fall easily so maybe just play some light activities with him until next feed. We try to follow a 3 hours cycle to eat - play - sleep. If he doesn't want to sleep it's fine some babies just want less sleep. Zach doesn't sleep much too. a lot of times I have to put him in the sling and let him sleep there for an hour so not over tired. xx

@BabyBird20

I'm just wondering how long all your little ones sleep during the day? Benji seems to have given up sleeping and is only getting about 12 hours sleep in a 24 hour period when all the buildings say it should be more like 18! How often do yours nap and how long for? Do you actively 'put them down' for a nap eg rocking to sleep or do they just fall asleep naturally? Not sure if I'm missing a trick here!

Ours is the opposite, hes 2 weeks old tomorrow but think he has his days and nights mixed up. He will feed / sleep during the day in 3 hr blocks but at night he is constantly awake and fussing.

Not sure if we are starting to see a turnaround now. Last couple of days he has been up and fussy between 2pm and 9pm and last night he (for first time) slept in 3 hr blocks. This morning I tried to keep him awake a bit more as I'm unsure if he is sleeping too much in the day. Although this meant when we did try and put him down after a couple of hrs he was a bit agitated but now sleeping. What does yours do when they're awake in the day? Are they awake but settled?

@SRS1311 can't agree more. It's so hard and I'm in tears a lot of times trying to get the some milk in him.

I think they should be asleep a good proportion of the day as well in first six weeks. We also try to do the eat play sleep routine in 3 hour blocks- ideally one hour of eat and play and then two hours of nap. Obviously in reality it doesn't necessarily work like that !!!

How often do your little ones throw up or regurgitate milk? At the minute ours is bringing up at least an ounce probably every other feed or 1 in 3. We think he is suffering from reflux but just wondering what was "normal" for others

@SRS1311 loads every feee but she's gaining so well so obviously greedy! She gets aquite uncomfortable usually in the evenings but I think it's a mixture of witching and maybe abit of wind

@umabb I'm sorry to hear your having bf issues.
My bf journey came to an abrupt end after 11 days. Rose just wouldn't breastfeed/refused to latch and screamed after her stay in nicu, I was exclusively expressing for her, but have given up due to various reasons. Today has been her first day drinking only formula. It makes me sad and I'm disappointed as she was feeding so well before she became ill.

I’m sorry so many are having trouble with breastfeeding. It seems from everyone I’ve spoken to that it’s so hard and I really don’t know anyone who didn’t struggle in one way or another.

Two weeks postpartum today. Can’t believe Jia is two weeks old. Husband goes back to work tomorrow so we’ll have our first full day alone... I think we’ll be ok, just won’t get much done.

@SRS1311 you said your baby is two weeks old today too? Also born July 5th?

@UKtoSK

I’m sorry so many are having trouble with breastfeeding. It seems from everyone I’ve spoken to that it’s so hard and I really don’t know anyone who didn’t struggle in one way or another.

Two weeks postpartum today. Can’t believe Jia is two weeks old. Husband goes back to work tomorrow so we’ll have our first full day alone... I think we’ll be ok, just won’t get much done.

@SRS1311 you said your baby is two weeks old today too? Also born July 5th?

Ours was born very early hrs of 6th July, think I was getting my days mixed up in a previous post! How have you found things so far?

Haven't posted in a while, feel like time is just flying by. Little Freddie is now 19 days old, after a rocky start we are still EBF - he won't take to a bottle or a dummy. It's a lot harder than I ever thought it would be, he feeds pretty much every hour during the day and will only nap on my or DH. At night we usually get one block of 3-4 hrs then either 1 or 2 blocks of 2 hours then we are up for the day. I totally get why people stop breast feeding as it's very mentally challenging, ladies please don't be hard on yourselves for changing to formula, a healthy mummy and a fed baby are far more important!
Has anyone had a birth reflection? I've been struggling with perinatal anxiety and think much of it is to do with losing control over the whole birth experience.
Despite all the tough parts though, looking at his gorgeous face makes having him the best thing I've ever done

Morning everyone, just been catching up I'm sorry to those struggling BF.
LIttle Amelia will be 1month on Wednesday i really do not know how that's gone so quick.
Shes doing good feeding every 3hrs, she's a hungry baby though we've had to up her from 3oz to 4. Getting 3/4hr sleep at a time during the night.
Hope everyone is doing and feeling ok 😊

@Cornishbumpkin
I’m so sorry to hear you have perinatal anxiety surrounding the birth of your little one.
I’ve requested to be referred for a birthing debrief - I’m not sure if that is the same as birth reflections or not.
My midwife recommended it as I have anxiety about the birth, feel slightly traumatised and my husband and I both have questions about why certain decisions were made etc. We both felt completely out of control throughout the whole birth too.
My midwife said it could be up to 3 months before it happens though xxx

@Cornishbumpkin and @Gigitree sorry to hear you are both suffering from anxiety. I am too. I have ptsd and anxiety resulting from the stillbirth of my firstborn. I can't seem to stop catastrophisng, I keep imagining scenarios where the kids and husband get seriously hurt or die.
It's bloody hard.

@Cornishbumpkin Freddie is adorable, he has the most squishable cheeks!

@Zoey92 sounds like things are going well, can't believe she's already a month old!

@Gigitree sorry to hear your suffering too, it's a big deal looking back on birth and feeling negative, especially if planning on having another baby in future. I think the debrief is the same thing, not sure how long the wait is down here.

@Blizy Thankyou I love his little chubby cheeks. oh that's awful and totally natural to feel like that after a stillborn! Have you spoken to anyone about it and getting some help. I work in an emergency dept and having had to deal with child deaths in the past I find myself constantly worried about SIDS and whether he's too hot/ cold/ swaddled too tight. Starting CBT in the next couple of weeks which I've found really helpful in the past.

@SRS1311 we’re doing our best! We had some issues at the start but she seems like a fairly calm and happy baby so far. She has her moments though! I have a very forceful letdown on the right in particular and sometimes she can’t cope with it and gets angry and it makes feeding difficult. Sometimes she feeds just fine though. It’s very frustrating. I’ve definitely cried more since birth than I did the whole pregnancy I think!

Sorry to hear about the traumatic birth experiences. I feel positive about my birth now but at the time I was shocked by how much harder it was than I expected, just how much more painful it all was and I felt quite traumatised by that, so I can imagine how much more traumatised you would feel if things went far off plan or you felt you had no control over what was happening and decisions being made. I hope talking it through can help you come to terms with it.

My episiotomy seems to be healing well especially since I had the outer stitches out on Monday but there’s a stitch just...inside... and my god it itches so badly sometimes it drives me crazy. It’s worse than the pain.

@Cornishbumpkin he's gorgeous!

@Zoey92 sounds like you have quite a settled routine, has your little one always been that way or was there a turning point?

Glad to see I'm not alone in feeling anxious. Has anyone heard of / considered cranium osteotherapy? I've seen a couple of people recommend it and I'm considering it because ours seems so unsettled / stressed sometimes. He was induced and had forceps so I wonder whether him being forced out has upset him! I'd give anything a go at the minute

Thanks @SRS1311 I looked up online about cranial osteotherapy as we had 24hrs active labour with his head turned the wrong way, but found such mixed reviews about it. Some said it made their little one worse so it kinda put me off. Would be interested to hear if someone has had it done though

Thanks @SRS1311 I looked up online about cranial osteotherapy as we had 24hrs active labour with his head turned the wrong way, but found such mixed reviews about it. Some said it made their little one worse so it kinda put me off. Would be interested to hear if someone has had it done though

@Cornishbumpkin it's gone so quick, she's still tiny though bless her, we had to go buy some tiny baby clothes from George as first size was to long 😂 she'll soon grow I'm sure.

@SRS1311 she's quite settled with her feeds more so at night, not so much last couple days during the day, she was taking the 3oz but was still looking for more, so we upped it.
Shes been a pretty chilled baby from birth if im honest, i keep waiting for that to change the more alert she's getting though😂

Well here's my little lady 3 weeks and 2 days it's going too fast I actually get really sad when I think about it I wish I could pause this time for 6 months even with the little sleep I just adore her. Breast feeding is going really well my wound from section is still not healed getting cabin fever now especially as my husband works away so I can't even get out for walks never mind in the car.
Antibiotics finish second course tomorrow but they obviously haven't worked.
Really really missing my mum my husband was bathing her last night and I just starting Sobbing my mum would of just been head over heels in love with her life is so so cruel.
This little one is what keeps me going x

Oh she's just adorable @mrssunshinexxx I'm sure your mum would be extremely proud of you, your doing amazing x

Thank you I hope so @Busylizzie85 x

Thank you for all the support and advice re sleeping the other day!! I'm doing better at encouraging some daytime naps but even if it's only 10 mins after a feed. Using huckleberry to track is helping me remember when he woke and fed etc. Our biggest win last night was two whole hours in the crib!! Yay!! Swaddle and womb/shush noise seems to be the thing so going to keep working on it!! 🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻